Under Armour Marketing Mix

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Marketing Mix of Under Armour analyses the brand/company which covers 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) and explains the Under Armour marketing strategy. The article elaborates the pricing, advertising & distribution strategies used by the company.

Let us start the Under Armour Marketing Mix:

Product:

Under Armour is a leading sports apparel and equipment manufacturing company serving customers worldwide. Under Armour specializes in products for all age groups and has product lines for Men, Women, and Children starting from new born to above 8 years of age. The company’s apparel line can be divided on the basis of fabric into HeatGear, ColdGear and AllSeasonGear. HeatGear has moisture wicking properties and is worn when it’s hot, ColdGear is for cold weather and AllSeasonGear for weather between these two extreme seasons. Other categories are TurfGear, StreetGear and Scent Control wear. The innovative line of apparels is a result of high technology fabrics like Threadborne, Athlete Recovery Sleepwear, Supervent, Sunblock, Coolswitch and many more. Under Armour clothing line is built using micro fibres which help the body stay warm, cool, stable or dry as per the requirement. Under Armour also manufactures shoes for specialised sports and activities as a part of its marketing mix including running, training, basketball, lifestyle, golf, hiking and trail, cleats and spikes, boots and sandals. The company also offers accessories including fitness devices, backpacks and bags, caps, sunglasses, belts, protective gear and sports equipment.

Image: Wikimedia

Price:

Under Armour uses value-based pricing strategy for its products as they are known for their advanced quality. Although the company has a lot of well established brands as competitors but still it is able to charge a little extra than them for its products on the basis of superior innovative materials and fabrics. Under Armour’s major target segment consists of players and athletic people, and they focus more on the functionality aspect pertaining to fabric technology and product quality rather than the price or even design. That is one of the reasons it is able to price its products slightly above the industry average as a part of its marketing mix pricing strategy, as it is considered the market leader in this niche category as people associate Under Armour with value and excellence. Given the market position and its pricing strategy, the company still charges comparably to the similar dry fit technology products from competitive brand houses like Nike and Reebok.

Place:

Under Armour’s products reach to the last mile customers and it achieves this by a combination of two distribution channels i.e., a hybrid distribution channel. The hybrid channel comprises of both direct and indirect channels. The direct channel is implemented through company owned Under Armour stores and its online shopping website. The website offers shipping to more than 200 countries in North America, Europe, Middle East, Latin America, Asia and Africa and contains the entire range of products available. The retail stores on the other hand can be categorised into UA Brand house and UA Factory house, where the former contains only the best designs and pieces, the latter contains all signature products. Under Armour has also got international presence in the form of retail stores in Canada, Mexico, China, United Kingdom and many more. The company is trying to expand its global footprint even further as there is far better growth potential in emerging economies as compared to the Americas.

Promotion:

Under Armour, unlike most of its competitor brands, does not outsource marketing to outside agencies, instead keeps all of its marketing strategy in-house. Its promotional mix consists of everything, be it personal selling at point of purchase touchpoints by the salesperson, large billboards outside Baltimore and famous city routes, TV advertisements, YouTube and online social media campaigns, magazine ads or sponsorships. Over time, Under Armour has come up with various campaigns such as “I WILL” campaign, where athletes and people from diverse backgrounds, races and genders were shown winning their opponents. Another very successful promotion was the social campaign “Basketball matters, community matters more”, where the company developed some of the local basketball courts to help the kids play. Such campaigns not only increase sales but also act as positive publicity for the company and the brand. Under Armour also does sales promotions by offering discounts and coupons. The company also offers free shipping for all orders above $60 on its website and gives away lots of promo codes to the buyers to increase online sales. Hence, this completes the marketing mix of Under Armour.

About Under Armour:

Under Armour is a manufacturer of footwear, sportswear and casual apparel based in United States of America. The company was started in 1996 by a 23-year old Kevin Plank in Washington DC who later moved the operations to Baltimore. Under Armour is most famous for being the market pioneer in moisture-absorbing and innovative apparel for sportspersons. Today it caters to all needs of sportswear and has also expanded in casual wear and shoes. Its major competitors include Nike, Adidas, Puma and Reebok. Although it is a niche player in its category and very small in size as compared to competition, it still is an extremely well recognized and trusted brand in the sports community and many famous players are seen wearing Under Armour apparel and shoes. A well-known brand in USA, Under Armour faces strong competition from competition brands internationally as they are more established names.

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